Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

[Twisted Brick]

Twist, can you tell me a little more about your fermentation process? Thanks much for the details of your run, we will be doing ours next week after it clears a little and your info is very helpful.

I'll try, but unfortunately I'm a little shy on some of the details since my neighbor did the fermenting. I know the fruit was ripe and kept in the fridge until it was juiced. The pulp/pits were painstakingly removed and the only thing added was the sugar and 5 campden tablets for 10 gal per the recipe. Because of the high sugar content (IMO) the ferment took off like a rocket and finished fairly strong in 14 days. The thickish off-colored 'cap' got strained out through a BIAB, behaving very similar to corn.

Should plums happen again next year we have committed to fermenting and distilling on the pulp for the obvious reasons.

HTH

[stillanoob]

Thanks twisted. We smashed our plums with potato mashers and removed most of the pits. Everything else went into the primary fermenter. The fermentation took off like a rocket. We used baker's yeast as that is what we had. I just got a brick of EC 1118 to have on hand for future fruit exploits. After about 5 days we racked off to glass.

I am going to look into the BIAB and other methods to strain the mess for better yield. We decided to err on the side of losing more because the gelatinous nature of the must seemed a scorch hazard.

[cranky]

You guys are making me start to turn my attention to fruity goodness

I personally don't overthink it. With plums I take out the pits, mash it up and ferment. I can lose up to half of the total volume depending on how I strain it. As far as volume and alcohol I get what I get. I'm not a fan of adding sugar to fruit that is going to be distilled, wine on the other hand I like sweet and I can tell you in my experience you can make a plum wash that is nothing but plums, sugar and water, push it to 21% and EC-1118 will ferment it dry in 10 days or less. This might be something worth knowing in a post apocalyptic world

My Asian plums run quite high in sugar, European plums a little less but still quite sweet, especially the French "sugar plums" which aren't ripe yet but I did stop by the plum thicket on my way home from work and could see some really nice big European plums ready to pick if I can make it through only a few feet of blackberries. I might have to try in a few days.

Speaking of blackberries, we are now in prime blackberry picking season but fur to the wet summer they are watery and don't have a lot of flavor so I don't know if they are going to be worth the trouble this year but I just tested some and they are running a little over 13 brix so I may just have to somehow find the time to pick.

[Fredistiller]

Home made Palinka is the spirit that made me appreciate and want to discover spirits in general. So smooth, so much flavours I love it! Before that spirits were, for me, just expensive stuff that burns your throat and belly. And now I'm here making my own spirits! I hope one day I can find enough (affordable) plums to make my own.
This year I'll try an "elderberry/blackberry/black currant/red currant/rowan berry/grape" wash. I'll keep you posted with the results...

[Fredistiller]

Speaking of blackberries, we are now in prime blackberry picking season but fur to the wet summer they are watery and don't have a lot of flavor so I don't know if they are going to be worth the trouble this year but I just tested some and they are running a little over 13 brix so I may just have to somehow find the time to pick.

For me it's the opposite, not enough rain. I've got a lot of them but very small and they doesn't ripe how it should... Nevertheless I'll give it a try

[Corsaire]

Same here, too dry a summer. And my peach trees got devoured by some pest. No fruity goodness for me this year :-(

[cranky]

Home made Palinka is the spirit that made me appreciate and want to discover spirits in general. So smooth, so much flavours I love it! Before that spirits were, for me, just expensive stuff that burns your throat and belly. And now I'm here making my own spirits! I hope one day I can find enough (affordable) plums to make my own.
This year I'll try an "elderberry/blackberry/black currant/red currant/rowan berry/grape" wash. I'll keep you posted with the results...

It seems quite a few of the European distillers come here due to Palinka. The problem with buying fruit is that even when it is cheap it still costs a lot to make brandy with it.

For me it's the opposite, not enough rain. I've got a lot of them but very small and they doesn't ripe how it should... Nevertheless I'll give it a try

Same here, too dry a summer. And my peach trees got devoured by some pest. No fruity goodness for me this year :-(

Sorry to hear that. Here we usually have about 6 weeks in the summer with no rain...I know who would have thought that rainy Seattle would have such amazing summers, which is a secret that nobody here likes to admit The advantage to that is the blackberries are used to it and it tends to help increase sugar levels in the fruit. Wet years tend to keep sugar levels down.

[cranky]

I have some good news

The Apple Reaper is finally back up and running after a partial frame off restoration and is now ready to go to work hauling fruit

The other day I stopped and picked a couple apples from one of the last remaining trees from my first year of apple picking. A while back the city widened the road there and butchered the crap out of the poor tree but it still has a bucket or two worth of apples on it and I think I'm going to go try to pick it and the plum tree behind it. I picked 2 apples off it and they tested at 13 brix which is actually pretty good for that tree.

My sons plum tree is ready for picking too and seems to have produced quite well this year so I need to go pick that too. My own plum tree also produced well but everything on it is still green. I'm particularly looking forward to those.

[stillanoob]

@cranky , what tool do you use for spot checking the brix of fruit?

[cranky]

@cranky , what tool do you use for spot checking the brix of fruit?

I use a brix refractometer which has become largely indispensable to me.

They aren't terribly expensive either. After you break 3 hydrometers and test cylinders it pretty much pays for itself. It's really nice to have because it only takes 2-3 drops of juice to get a reading and not 100ml of strained juice.

[stillanoob]

Any particular make and model that you like? I need one for sure. Pears are perfect right now and so is one of my apples trees. I'm going to do a batch of pear/apple cider this week, for drinking as cider both sweet and hard. It is that time of year for sure!

[cranky]

Any particular make and model that you like? I need one for sure. Pears are perfect right now and so is one of my apples trees. I'm going to do a batch of pear/apple cider this week, for drinking as cider both sweet and hard. It is that time of year for sure!

I'm sure others know more about that stuff than I do. The only one I have ever had is an ATC one like in the link. I think I have had that something like 5 years now and haven't broken a hydrometer since, mainly because I seldom bother to use one. It seems to be accurate as well and has never needed an adjustment, although I do check it regularly but also we have pretty stable temperatures here.

Pear is my favorite. I really like the results when I mix pear with the apple. Today I stopped by my son's place and checked their trees. Apples need some more time, pears too, but seem to be getting close, especially the Asian pear and the plums are just about a week out. The plum tree seems to be doing much better this year than last. I did pick 2 of everything to sample and see where they are but haven't tested yet.

[stillanoob]

Thanks Cranky. For some reason the link doesn't appear for me, dunno why. I'll look for ATC.

I agree that pear/apple cider is delicious. It's looking like close to ten gallons worth with what we have. Last year we got no pears at all because the bear broke into the garden and ate 'em. At least he didn't break any limbs. This year we have an electric fence that is supposed to stop a bull. I keep hoping to see a big bear splat right outside the fence line.

[Tummydoc]

ATC isnt a brand. Nearly all refractometers are marked ATC. It stands for automatic temperature correction.

[8Ball]

The pear brandy I made last summer is really starting to taste nice. This year, I’m afraid the damn raccoons will steal all my pears before I can pick them off the trees.

[cranky]

Thanks Cranky. For some reason the link doesn't appear for me, dunno why. I'll look for ATC.

I agree that pear/apple cider is delicious. It's looking like close to ten gallons worth with what we have. Last year we got no pears at all because the bear broke into the garden and ate 'em. At least he didn't break any limbs. This year we have an electric fence that is supposed to stop a bull. I keep hoping to see a big bear splat right outside the fence line.

If you just search Brix Refractometer you'll find them.

[cranky]

ATC isnt a brand. Nearly all refractometers are marked ATC. It stands for automatic temperature correction.

I didn't realize that, even though it's right in the title

[cranky]

The pear brandy I made last summer is really starting to taste nice. This year, I’m afraid the damn raccoons will steal all my pears before I can pick them off the trees.

I've had that happen even had them break limbs trying to get to them.

One thing about pears is you have to pick them a little early or they get over ripe and mealy on the tree. My little seckel pear tree failed to produce once again. The pears around here are so hit and miss, I don't know why my son's seems to manage to produce every year. Maybe it's just sheltered enough but it produces some real nice pears.

[8Ball]

The pear brandy I made last summer is really starting to taste nice. This year, I’m afraid the damn raccoons will steal all my pears before I can pick them off the trees.

I've had that happen even had them break limbs trying to get to them.

One thing about pears is you have to pick them a little early or they get over ripe and mealy on the tree. My little seckel pear tree failed to produce once again. The pears around here are so hit and miss, I don't know why my son's seems to manage to produce every year. Maybe it's just sheltered enough but it produces some real nice pears.

I get the pears off of my in-laws trees. Problem is, it is a 200 mile trip to get up there, so the racoons have the advantage. I’m making the trip up next week and will find out what they left for me ...

[stillanoob]

Around here it is often the foxes that get into the fruit. Raccoons too but the foxes are the worst. That's why I love my electric fence! Keeps the bears out too.

Just got back from a nice little boondocks trip. We were at 7k feet when the lightning storm moved in. Pretty dramatic and awesome!

Anyhoo, Cranky I see all kinds of refractometers but they all seem to be the same one but with different brand names on them. Does anyone have a brand the recommend? Or ones to stay away from? I have one for battery acid and it works well. I have one for spirits and it is wildly inaccurate. So I'd like to find one for brix that works well.

Checked the plum wash today and one carboy has white mold on the top. It is the carboy that we got from squeezing and fooling around with the dregs. It will probably be fine but we will run it on its own and see if it is ok. The run is planned for Friday so hopefully it won't have progressed to far.

Have a bunch of apples and pears picked and sweating. We'll press those while doing the plum stripping runs.

[NZChris]

I'd recommend Atago refractometers. They're not the cheapest, but mine Is still in great condition after 25 years of use.

[stillanoob]

Thanks NZC. I have to admit that those are above my pay grade.

[cranky]

I had my wife look it up and this is the one she bought me back in Nov 2015


I know it wasn't more than $25 at that time and think $44 is pretty high given there are plenty for around $20 but it has worked very well for me over the past 5 years.

[stillanoob]

Thanks Cranky. For some reason I can't see your pics. I ordered a $20 one, with any luck it will work ok. We'll be pressing pears and apples this Friday so we will have something that we can compare a hydrometer to the refractometer and get a sense of how well it works.

[cranky]

I was checking some new apples yesterday and they were way under ripe so I decided to take some pictures and show the difference between ripe and under ripe.

This is what a ripe Asian pear looks like

You can see there is a clear line between white and blue just above 18brix

and this one is an under ripe apple

instead of a clear line there is a gradient from white to blue.

I don't know if this is how it works for everybody or not but this is how mine works. I think it's a pretty handy way to know a fruit is ripe when sugar levels may be lower than expected, or desired. Of course taking a bite is often the best way to know.

[NZChris]

Thanks NZC. I have to admit that those are above my pay grade.

After 25 years, the annual cost of having a good quality refractometer is quite small.

I recently bought a cheap Fleabay 0-80% alcohol refract. It's only close to being accurate at around 40% and I didn't buy it for that

[stillanoob]

I had the same experience with the cheap spirit refractometer I bought. I would imagine that high ABV spirits are more difficult to read accurately than sugars. Or so I hope. The cheap one I have for battery electrolyte does fine.

While I am fundamentally a quality tools guy I just can't justify $200 to $400. For me this is a very part time hobby and I have many other expensive time sinks competing for my few elective dollars. All of them crying "me, me!!".

Just curious, I assume you have the non-digital model. Temperature compensation or not?

[NZChris]

Non digital. Temperature compensated.

[stillanoob]

I have a new favorite thing...

We ran the plum wash. First stripping run was 8 gallons of pretty clear wash. We ran it through a strainer, very little skin. Very good and quite drinkable. First 100 mL came out cloudy. Tossed that and the next 50 mL. Cleared up and we ran it down to around 5%. We ended up with about 2 1/4 gallons of low wines. The "hearts" of the stripping run was darn good, I can see why some folks do a single run on plum.

The last carboy was the mucky one that we had pressed through the strainer. It had a slight lacto looking infection but tasted fine. We ended up with about 3 more gallons and considering that it was a little thick we wanted to dilute it some as 3 gallons is a small charge for our still (nominal 12 gallons, good for 10). So we decided to toss it in with the now 6 gallons that was in the still. All went well for 1/2 gallon or so, although the low wines produced were nowhere near as good as the first run and of course of lower ABV. Once again we tossed about 100mL. Then the still puked. I must admit I didn't see that coming. We shut down and tried to clear it but weren't happy with what was coming out of the spout so we shut it down. In retrospect I think we should have taken all but a couple of gallons of the spent wash out of the boiler instead of using all that was left. Consulting an experienced professional distiller he said it may have been due to a situation similar to superboiling in a microwave.

We ended up with about 3 gallons of slightly cloudy low wines at 27%. We started on the spirit run. We collected in 50mL or so increments until the smell changed which was at about 150mL. As the ABV dropped to about 65% we started sniffing closely again and decided to knock it off at about 60%. It still smelled OK but there was a distinct change and we didn't want to be greedy. I still am struggling to be able to determine the tails cut although I feel like I am starting to get a handle on the heads cut. What we went with cut-wise is probably a little headsy but no headache this morning after getting a little buzz. And man, does it taste great! It is my wife's new favorite too and she is not a big spirits fan. Me, I'm in love. Beats the pants of the apple brandy white we made, although that is shaping up very nicely on oak.

It seems to me that oaking this plum brandy would cover up some of the subtle but distinctly plum notes. So I think I will leave it white. What do other folks do?

[cranky]

Last time I did plum I didn't oak it, I think oak is often far too strong for any brandy, which is why I use a well used barrel or a very small amount of wood.

Most of the time I will take a hearts cut sample when I do stripping runs to see what I think and if it is good enough, which it often isn't, I will save it to add back to the final blend.